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RESOLUTION

On the 2008 socio-economic development Plan

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM

Pursuant to the 1992 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, which was amended and supplemented under Resolution No. 51/2001/QH10;

After examining reports of the Government, the People's Supreme Court, the People's Supreme Procuracy, the National Assembly's agencies and concerned agencies, and opinions of National Assembly deputies,

RESOLVES:

I. MAJOR OBJECTIVES AND TARGETS:

1. Overall objectives

To strive for a high economic growth in a quality and sustainable manner, increase the competitiveness of the economy in association with improvement of people's living standards; to strive to surpass the threshold of "low-income developing nations" in 2008. To focus on developing the infrastructure system. To proactively and effectively implement international economic integration commitments. To improve human resource quality and step up scientific and technological research and application and public healthcare activities. To maintain political stability, ensure national defense, security and social order and safety. To expand the social welfare network; to effectively settle pressing social problems, traffic jams and accidents, and environmental pollution. To intensity administrative reforms and judicial reforms, and raise the effect and effectiveness of the state apparatus' operation.

2. Major targets

a/ Economic targets:

Gross domestic product (GDP) will increase 8.5-9%.

Added value of agriculture, forestry and fisheries will rise 3.5-4%; industry and construction, 10.6-11%; and the service sector, 8.7-9.2%.

Total export value will grow 20-22%.

Total funds for development investment for the entire society will account for 42% of the gross domestic product (GDP).

The consumer price index will be lower than the economic growth rate.

b/ Social targets:

To raise the number of provinces and centrally run cities attaining universal lower secondary education standards to 46. The new enrollment rate of university and college students will increase 13% while that of professional secondary school students will grow 16.5%, and vocational college and high school students, 18.5%.

The birth rate will fall 0.3'.

To create jobs for 1.7 million laborers, of whom 85,000 will be sent to work abroad;

To reduce the poor household percentage to 11-12%.

To lower the percentage of malnourished under-five children to less than 22%.

The ratio of hospital beds will reach 25.7 beds/10,000 persons.

To raise the dwelling house area to 12 m2 of floor area/person.

c/ Environmental targets:

To strive for supplying clean water to 75% of the rural population and 85% of the urban population.

To raise the forest coverage percentage to 40%.

To clean up 60% of establishments which cause environmental pollution.

To collect 80% of solid wastes. To treat 64% of hazardous wastes. To treat 86% of medical wastes.

Sixty percent (60%) of industrial parks and export-processing zones will have waste water treatment systems meeting environmental requirements.

II. A NUMBER OF MAJOR TASKS:

The National Assembly basically agrees with the tasks and solutions proposed by the Government, the People's Supreme Court, the People's Supreme Procuracy, and the National Assembly's Nationalities Council, Economic Committee and other Committees, in their sectoral oversight reports and verification reports. The National Assembly emphasizes the following issues:

1. To properly implement the disbursement schedules for, and efficiently use, state investment funds; to increase the capacity of mobilizing investment capital sources from the population, enterprises and foreign investment. To quickly improve mechanisms, policies and the legal environment to facilitate the mobilization and optimum use of development investment funds. To concentrate on improving infrastructure (transport, electricity, water and communication), prioritize investment for the completion of ongoing projects which are considered necessary and efficient, especially to-be-completed-soon projects; prepare conditions for the deployment of large-scale works. To increase investment in agricultural and rural development; to prioritize irrigation works, especially in prolonged drought-stricken areas and flood-hit areas; to upgrade and improve inter-commune and -district roads; to pay attention to post-harvest technologies, especially processing technologies, to raise the competitiveness of domestic commodities. To step up the implementation of socio-economic development programs and projects in mountainous, border and ethnic minority areas. To boost the allocation of forest land and forests to forestry production households, to amend and supplement incentive policies for people engaged in the protection of natural forests and protection forests and development of economic forests.

To properly and efficiently use official development assistance (ODA) funds. To review and evaluate the disbursement and use of education bonds, government bonds, international corporate bonds (guaranteed by the Government) in order to come up with solutions for faster disbursement and more efficient use of these bonds.

To intensify the examination, inspection and management of the quality and labor safety of capital construction investment projects; to reorganize project management units toward professionalization. To evaluate the efficiency of the assignment and decentralization of investment management among ministries and branches and between central and local levels.

To continue reforming and improving policies for and strengthening management of the finance, monetary and trade sectors to control inflation; to reduce the exploitation output of a number of natural resources and minerals and limit the export of crude materials, to control import, reduce trade deficit, especially for products for social consumption. To comprehensively, firmly and effectively apply measures to control and curb market price rises. To elaborate and announce a roadmap for liberalizing the prices of commodities and services of which the State is controlling the pricing.

To continue improving the legal system on banking; to raise the effectiveness of monetary policy management. To expand the use of non-cash payment methods. To continue restructuring the system of commercial banks, to boost the equitization of state commercial banks, to establish a safety supervision mechanism for national financial-monetary activities. To take control to ensure the healthy development of the financial market; to use financial instruments to prevent the speculation of residential land, dwelling houses, and land for economic work construction, ensuring the healthy development of the property market.

To evaluate and draw initial experience in the establishment and operation of economic groups; to strive to complete the rearrangement and renovation of state enterprises under the Enterprise Law.

2. To check and redress inconsistencies in the Land Law, the Dwelling House Law and laws concerning the grant of ownership certificates of land and assets attached to land; to promptly amend and supplement inappropriate provisions in documents guiding the implementation of these laws to ensure their consistency, completeness, clearness and feasibility; to adjust financial policies with a view to exempting and reducing people's contributions when receiving land use right certificates for the first time.

To uniformly grant one kind of certificates of land use rights together with ownership of houses and other assets attached to land pursuant to the Land Law, to assign a key agency in charge of implementation; to simplify dossiers of and procedures for the grant of land use right certificates; to strive to basically complete the grant of land use right certificates for all kinds of land nationwide by 2010.

With various funding sources (from land-related revenues, ODA, etc.), to prioritize proper funds for elaborating master plans and plans on land use, conducting measurement work to make cadastral maps and records - the first and important basis for granting land use right certificates; to ensure consistency between land use planning and other planning; to step up the planning of 3 kinds of forests; to clearly determine areas for wet rice cultivation for strict protection to ensure national food security. To consolidate land use right registration offices and develop the land fund; to ensure sufficient land administration workers who have professional skills and qualities, especially grassroots cadres.

3. To continue drastically implementing measures to combat negative practices in examinations and the aggressive pursuit of academic achievement while stepping up standardization of teaching staff and training administrators. To renovate teaching and training contents and methods; to improve the quality of general education, university, college, professional high school and vocational education to meet social requirements. To expand loans for poor pupils and students. To boost learning and talent promotion and build the entire nation into a learning society.

To issue incentive policies for all economic sectors, organizations and individuals to invest in developing education-training, culture-information, physical training-sports, health, public healthcare and other public services. To devise overall schemes on policies and roadmaps on adjustment of school fees and hospital fees in combination with fundamentally renovating the management of education and health units; to exempt school fees for lower secondary school students being children of poor families, reduce school fees for children of families close to the poverty line; to exempt and reduce hospital fees for the poor and social policy beneficiaries. To expand models of free protection, care and education for children in areas meeting with special difficulties, deep-lying and remote areas.

To increase investment in upgrading physical facilities and equipment of public healthcare establishments, focusing on district-level healthcare services; to improve the healthcare quality of health stations.

4. To implement comprehensive policies on developing science and technology and applying scientific and technological achievements to production in order to produce products with hi-tech contents; to prioritize investment in key mechanical engineering, electronics, information technology, new material production and biotechnology.

To promptly handle polluting establishments in residential areas, urban areas, industrial parks, watershed and coastal areas and craft village areas; to research, forecast and proactively adopt measures to address global warming issues. To increase food hygiene and safety inspection and epidemic prevention and control, to strictly handle violations, reduce risks and damage.

5. To continue implementing the wage reform scheme, to address irrational issues concerning wages; to associate wage reforms with administrative apparatus reforms, boost the socialization and improvement of mechanisms and policies on laborer recruitment.

To develop sources of quality laborers to meet domestic and international demands. To pay attention to generating employment for farmers, especially in areas where land use purposes are changed, focusing on middle-aged laborers, contributing to raising income and improving living conditions. To limit and control the mobilization of farmers' contributions to rural infrastructure construction, ensuring their voluntariness.

6. To enhance the effect of state management of defense, security, combine socio-economic development with consolidation and strengthening of defense potential, and maintenance of political security and social security and order. To develop marine economy associated with protecting the sovereignty over sea areas, islands and continental shelf. To boost and effectively implement the national program on crime prevention and control; to resolutely fight and strictly handle all crimes, especially serious crimes and new crimes. To direct and drastically implement measures to curb traffic accidents, striving to reduce traffic accidents in both the numbers of dead and injured victims compared with 2007; to overcome weaknesses in state management of master plans and plans on organizing and managing traffic to reduce traffic jams in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and key national routes as well as in their implementation.

7. To adopt a mechanism to ensure close coordination between the Government and the National Assembly and between ministries and branches to successfully perform the duties of a United Nation Security Council nonpermanent member. To seriously implement commitments on international economic integration, to build up the international community's strong confidence in Vietnam's investment environment, reduce negative impacts, raise the competitiveness of Vietnamese economy and enterprises on the domestic, regional and world markets.

8. To quickly complete rearranging, defining functions and tasks of, ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies and local administrations of all levels with a view to eliminating overlaps in the functions and tasks of ministries and branches at the central level and provincial services and local branches; to reasonably transfer tasks, which the State unnecessarily has to perform, to professional associations. To consolidate the organizational apparatus of state agencies towards streamlining, effective and efficient operation and meeting new requirements. To rationally adjust and supplement policies for cadres working in communes, wards and townships in line with common polices and regimes of the State. To continue reforming regimes on public duties and public employees, strictly implement the boss regime in administrative agencies, clearly define responsibilities of individual heads and leading collectives at all levels.

To step up administrative procedure reforms, focusing on procedures and affairs which remain troublesome to people and enterprises, especially in investment, capital construction, enterprise establishment, tax payment, civil status and residence management. To review and amend existing regulations to abolish unreasonable procedures. To make administrative procedure regulations public and transparent to facilitate the people's implementation and supervision. To expand the coordinated application of the inter-agency one-stop-shop mechanism from ministries, branches and central agencies to local administrations at all levels. To strongly promote the management decentralization in combination with intensifying the provision of guidance and examination by supervisory levels; to raise the management capacity of local administrations at all levels, especially grassroots levels.

9. To review judicial reforms. To raise the operation quality of judicial agencies, especially the quality of investigation and proceedings at courts; to promptly and lawfully settle criminal, civil and administrative cases; to attach importance to finding out causes and conditions prompting law violations, crimes and disputes for prompt handling and prevention. To continue implementing master plans on training and developing a strong contingent of judicial cadres and title holders who are clean and firm and possess political qualities and professional capabilities and qualifications meeting requirements for judicial reforms and international economic integration; to increase infrastructure investment and conditions suitable to judicial activities' characteristics; to soon expand the trial powers of district-level courts under the Criminal Procedure Code and the Civil Procedure Code; to create remarkable improvements in civil judgment enforcement, to study and unify the management of enforcement of criminal and civil judgments.

10. To speed up the settlement of citizens' complaints and denunciations; to adopt reasonable and effective measures for handling and limiting wrong complaints and denunciations, to properly settle outstanding, complicated and prolonged complaints; to promptly settle newly arisen complaints. To intensify the direction, guidance, inspection and urging of state administrative agencies at all levels in settling complaints and denunciations and implementing effective decisions on settlement of complaints and denunciations; to promptly detect and strictly handle irresponsible people in settling complaints and denunciations.

11. To heighten personal responsibilities of heads of agencies and units in corruption prevention and combat and thrift practice and waste combat. To ensure the openness and transparency in the use of state budget and finance. To strengthen the organization and intensify the operation of central- and provincial-level anti-corruption steering committees; to raise the quality of examination, inspection and auditing activities and investigate, institute and bring to court corruption cases in accordance with law. To publicize results of inspection, financial audit and handling of corruption cases. To publicize and closely control incomes of, and interchange work positions for, cadres and public employees in accordance with law for the purpose of preventing corruption. To seriously implement the regime on public asset management and use. To bring into play the role of people and the media in corruption prevention and combat and thrift practice and waste combat.

III. ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

The Government, the People's Supreme Court and the People's Supreme Procuracy shall, according to their functions and tasks, organize the successful implementation of the 2008 socio-economic development plan.

The National Assembly Standing Committee, the Nationalities Council, the National Assembly's Committees, delegations of National Assembly deputies and National Assembly deputies shall oversee the implementation of this Resolution.

The Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, its member organizations and other social organizations shall supervise and mobilize people of all strata to properly implement this Resolution of the National Assembly.

The National Assembly calls upon compatriots and combatants throughout the country and overseas Vietnamese to uphold the spirit of patriotic emulation, unite themselves, make every endeavor, take full advantage of opportunities and overcome difficulties and challenges for the successful implementation of the 2008 socio-economic development plan, creating a premise for development in the following years.

This Resolution was adopted on November 12, 2007, by the XIIth National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at its second session.